Lloyds to offer Monitise’s MPOS solution to Brits

Mobile payment specialist, Monitise, has partnered with with the UK’s Lloyds Bank to develop a mobile payment system aimed at sole traders and small businesses in Britain. There are over 3.5 million sole traders operating in the UK – most of whom currently have no access to a mobile payment service. The pair expect to offer a suite of mobile payments products by Autumn [Fall] 2013. This solution will also provide the basis for a number of broader mobile banking initiatives which Lloyds is currently developing for clients. It’s based on the new Monitise mPOS service launched back in May [2013].

The Lloyds application is expected to run on BlackBerry as well as on Android and iOS.

In order to provide chip & pin services, Monetise can supply its PINpad card reader which communicates with the smartphone via Bluetooth.

Merchants can provide customers with a receipt either via text messaging or email.

He continued, “Market forecasts indicate that it’s going to shake up the payments industry as we know it, creating a fundamental shift in how banks service their customers.”

It differs from Barclays’ Pingit service, for example, because it can be used to accept payments from customers using credit/debit cards whereas Pingit is more a method of transferring funds between smartphone users.

The real shame is that the Lloyds solution isn’t available in time for the music festival season with events like WOMAD, for example, taking place at the end of July [2013].

About Hans Cett

Hans Cett is an established freelance author and consultant specialising in the mobile communications industry. He also writes for Countdown2MWC - http://countdown2mwc.wordpress.com/